Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this issue. I fully understand and support the ambition he has set out. As he knows, it is my ambition to increase substantially the diversity of offerings both at primary and at secondary level to reflect the growing preference of parents for more diversity in our education system.Earlier this year I indicated that nine new schools are to be provided at post-primary level and eight of the nine are multidenominational in ethos and four of them are Educate Together schools. We are very keen to promote diversity.

I must outline to the Senator the way in which decisions are made when new schools are decided upon. Perhaps he already knows. First, it has to be based on an assessment of the population pressure in an area. We use the geographical information systems, GIS, census data, Ordnance Survey information, Department of Social Protection numbers in terms of children and all the Department's databases to accurately project the pressure of demand across 314 planning areas that are set out by the Department. In terms of the exact area, namely, the Donaghmede and Howth, Dublin 13 area, as of today there is not sufficient population pressure to indicate that a new school would be warranted but it is an area where my Department is closely monitoring trends. As the Senator rightly said, it is an area of growth.

An indication of what we are doing is that in the adjoining area, namely, the Malahide and Portmarnock area, we recently approved a 1,000-student post-primary school for Educate Together as the population pressure warranted it. I am sure the Senator will ask why we do not provide more diversity straight away. The difficulty I face, which I am sure he will appreciate, is that with the population bulge that is occurring, I have to provide 20,000 additional places just to keep pace with population trends. That puts me under very severe pressure and I can only provide funds for additional places where the planning area does not have vacancies in other existing schools.

The approach that is then taken where it is identified that a school is warranted is predominantly based on parental preference. It is an independent process. Parents are asked to express their preference as to the patronage of the new school and it is done on the basis of an assessment of the number of parents indicating a preference for different schools. It is done independently of the Minister by an independent group, which has been set up to carry out the evaluation. That is the process. I am committed to greater diversity. I recognise the value of Educate Together and the education and training boards, ETBs. The Senator rightly pointed to the interesting innovation in Clonturk where an ETB school took in Educate Together as a joint partner. That is an interesting approach. We are determined to pursue greater diversity but we must work within the constraints of the existing budget planning process. We made provision recently for an Educate Together school in an adjoining area and we will closely track population numbers in the Donaghmede and Howth, Dublin 13, area.